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Chinese food consumers' country of origin preferences

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Dr Keith Walley of Harper Adams University shared his insights from recent research on Chinese food consumers and country of origin effects in an RCTS seminar.

Transnational Marketing Seminars 2015 Spring term hosted Dr Walley on Thursday 19 February at RCTS. Dr Walley and colleagues have conducted a consumer survey in Beijing China and published the results in a recent article on Chinese Food Consumers and COO.

Dr Keith Walley at RCTS

Introduced by Director of RCTS Professor Ibrahim Sirkeci, Dr Walley is one of rare experts who researched a wide array of industries and strategic solution areas in marketing management. The Country of Origin (COO) is a concept introduced probably by Schooler's 1965 article said Walley and advised that 'companies need to think carefully when moving their operations abroad for lower costs and higher margins as it may lead their customers expecting greater price discounts for less reputable COO'.

Their research on luxury consumption among the Chinese also showed that there is greater interest in French and Italian products but Japanese brands were perceived to be lowest ranked which is possibly due to the known national animosity between the two nations.

Chinese consumers are very fond of UK foods while not preferring food from Korea or India. Keith Walley asserts that there is a lesson for enterpreneurs here in terms of where to set up their businesses. Italy and France are good choices for luxury and fashion brands while the UK is good for food business.